SNP's latest motto: Pay more... get less

NOTHING illustrates the SNP's failure as clearly as the way in which Scots are paying more and more, and getting less and less in return. Last week, we had confirmation of this gap from the Accounts Commission, the independent body that assesses local authority funding and spending.

- Rachael Hamilton

It concluded that there is a huge “expectation gap” between how much taxpayers are forking out and the declining services that they receive in return.

That’s because there’s a £650million shortfall between what the SNP government is giving them and what it expects them to provide. It has huge real-life consequences for the things that ordinary households care about and which ought to be the basic tasks of government.

Pothole-riddled roads, closed libraries and swimming pools, and a failure to tackle rubbish and graffiti in our town centres may be the most visible signs of these cuts. But councils are also responsible for care, for schools, social work, housing and a host of other crucial services.